Main menu

Tag Archives: kitchen skills

Post navigation

Raise your hand if you subscribe to more than five Foodie blogs. Thank you; I see I’m in good company.

I’m afraid I inject some of personality every time I write a Foodie post. That’s probably a good thing. Last week I gave a friend a heads-up, letting her know today’s subject would again be kitchen tips.

Well, if you consider the following “kitchen tips,” your personality is a lot like mine.

Consider this list of words I associate with creating in the kitchen:

Hodge-podge

Daring

Variety

Fun

Whisking (I enjoy whisking)

Gadgets

Spills

Putter

Something that springs to mind in addition to all that is “Crazy.” Not the kind that people associate with a mental illness. (And that’s not a good use of the word anyway). This is ‘crazy’ meaning sort of wacky or zany. Like, if someone eavesdropped as you putter in the kitchen, they might be surprised. They might furrow their brow. They might gasp. Let’s hope they see the fun you’re having and giggle.

Crazy Foodies, as far as I’ve seen, get lost in the process. They love going rogue by experimenting. Crazy Foodies sing, hum, or dance while they maneuver in the kitchen because music is often part of the process.

Where are the kitchen tips I promised? All right, here we go. And remember these tips are about being a little crazy in the kitchen, whether they look like it or not.

Keep a well-stocked pantry and fridge

Think outside the box (Wait. I got rid of the box)

If you have kids, get them involved

Use your gadgets to their ultimate potential

Don’t keep too many gadgets around

Clear a large space for your work area

Use recipes for tried-and-true stuff

Try recipes—your own or someone else’s—that challenge you

Don’t try to be a master chef (Relax!)

Because I enjoy experimenting and altering recipes, I can see how having a well-stocked pantry helps me to experiment and be creative. An added bonus is that I can be more methodical.

But does being methodical take away from the fun and spontaneity?

Naah. It doesn’t hurt to have a plan, even if you consider yourself a Crazy Foodie. When you’re somewhat methodical, you give yourself elbow room to be more creative.

Last night, I made cole slaw from what was left of the huge head of cabbage a friend gave me. She’s gluten intolerant and craved some sort of popular Italian-style meal so I made Cabbage Lasagna. My recipe for homemade cole slaw dressing was perfected by thinking out of that box which doesn’t exist in my kitchen.**

In my neck of the woods, we have a couple of Autumn holidays coming up. Foodies get a little crazy making dishes with a new twist. Naturally, I encourage that. In fact, that’s why I follow more than five Foodie blogs. I steal ideas from those writer/kitchen experts.

Let’s get crazy if we haven’t already tried it. If you already practice craziness, invite a friend to come and enjoy the process. Add some peanut butter to the banana bread. Make some overnight oats that taste like an Almond Joy.

Just do it.

What words do you associate with creating in the kitchen? Would love to hear you chime in. So I can steal your ideas. Thanks in advance for letting me be a Kitchen Burglar.

Eat hardy!

**Truthfully, there is a box. For instance, I don’t do things like put lobster in chocolate fudge.

We putter around the kitchen. We experiment with new recipes. We share a recipe with someone. When the kids are hungry, we get busy and feed them. Over the years, we accumulate cook books, gadgets and experience.

Foodies are usually well-versed in culinary activities. We share kitchen tips with others who enjoy baking and cooking. We’re also really fun to be with.

How many of these Simple Foodie Pleasures do you enjoy? Which ones would you add?

Finding a new recipe that requires ingredients you already have in the pantry

We’re going to learn about cutting up a fresh frying chicken today. Well, actually, I’d like to give some instruction and aid you with a video of someone doing it so you can get a good “feel” for how to handle the knife and the bird.

I learned how to cup up a fryer when I worked in a small grocery store that had a fresh meat case. Al, the butcher, taught me a lot about the various cuts of beef and pork and how to save money by using a fryer instead of buying the pieces already cut up. Since I was a young mother trying to save pennies, I was happy to watch him go through three or four chickens before I finally “got it.”

Some of the good reasons to learn and employ this technique:

Money saved per pound on chicken

Better use of the chicken parts, when done wisely

You get parts you like which aren’t found in “selected” packaging

Getting “back to basics”

A sense of pride in knowing a new kitchen skill

Let’s start with the money you save. It’s not going to make you rich, but when you’re trying to save any way you can, it helps. I mean, you shop sales, use coupons, and want BOGO offers, right? Well, there you go.

As for better use of those pieces, I’ll explain a little more of that later, but when the family likes both dark and white meat, you have it in one neat little package. Those parts you enjoy like the liver, the heart or gizzard are there too.

Notice how the wing ‘tips’ are saved for later.

You get a taste without having to buy a whole package of them, unless you want to do that. But even then, they’re usually frozen and most of us don’t prepare a whole meal of them at once. When you learn to cut up a whole fryer, you have the skill of a chef and a sort of “pioneer” attitude. (without having to catch the bird and pluck its feathers!)

Don’t worry about how much time you won’t save by cutting up your own chicken. This video of Alex from The Food Network shows her doing this is just over 2 minutes. You’ll get that good at it too.

I would add to her instructions that, when you cut those wings off first, be aware of the bones/joints attached to the wing portion. Once you make that cut into the skin, gently bend the wing away from the body of the chicken and then you can slice through. It’s mostly cartilage which gives way pretty easily. Same goes for the joint between the leg and thigh, which is something she mentions. Al taught me to feel for it with my finger; there would be a dip to slice into and then I could find the joint/bone. Always use a sharp, good quality knife.

Isn’t this fun and educational?

All right, now we get to some other practical considerations. You say, “My family isn’t into those internal organs or neck and back pieces.” That’s okay. They can be used, along with the carcass of the chicken, for making something you may or may not have heard of: bone broth. It’s something you make which yields a rich broth you can’t find in the store. “Why does that matter?” you ask. Because homemade brothhas ingredients of which you know the origin. You don’t have to read the label.

Rather than type out my own recipe for bone broth, here’s a broth recipe which can be used for either beef or chicken. It’s very close to how I do it. Try a turkey carcass following your holiday meal too; it’s already roasted. (You may have to break the bones apart to get them in.) Beef bones, if not already roasted, work best when browned first for more flavor. Here’s another slow cooker recipe which uses slightly different ingredients. I like the idea of using a slow cooker because most of us want to use time wisely as well as using our money wisely. Besides, you don’t have to stand guard over it and cooking that way fills the house with great aromas.

Some great reasons for making broth:

Using every part of the meat you paid good money for

Saving money by not having to buy packaged broth

Knowing exactly what’s in your broth

Having it handy when you want it

Nutrients from the bones you wouldn’t normally get

Getting back to basics!

A new kitchen skill!

You can freeze broth in containers for use later. I use quart containers because that’s what I would have been buying anyway. Your call. Some cooks also can theirs. And don’t miss these excellent tips for making broth which come from the experts.